Jeff Koons”Rabbit’ sculpture sells for $91M

FBN’s Cheryl Casone on the sale of Jeff Koons’ metallic sculpture of a balloon-animal rabbit for $91 million.

Jeff Koons’ “Rabbit” sculpture set an auction record in New York Wednesday after it was sold for a cool $91 million.

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Robert E. Mnuchin, an art dealer and father of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was the winning bidder for “Rabbit,” a stainless steel balloon animal sculpture, The New York Times reported. The sculpture was offered at Christie’s from late magazine publisher S.I. Newhouse Jr.’s collection.

The sales of the 1986 “Rabbit” at Christie’s in New York City was the most expensive work by a living artist ever sold at auction. The estimated price of the sculpture was at least $50 million. Christie’s said the sculpture is one of three editions plus one artist’s proof.

The auction house described “Rabbit” as a work of art that taps into a person’s childhood.

"It is crisp and cool in its appearance, yet taps into the visual language of childhood, of all that is pure and innocent. Its lack of facial features renders it wholly inscrutable, but the forms themselves evoke fun and frivolity, an effect heightened by the crimps and dimples that have been translated into the stainless steel from which it has been made,” according to Christie’s.

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The previous record for a living artist's work sold at auction was set by British artist David Hockney. His 1972 "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" brought in $90.3 million at Christie's last year.